Sasha Stoikov is a senior research associate at Cornell Financial Engineering in Manhattan (CFEM). His research studies algorithms in high-frequency financial trading, online ratings systems, and recommendation systems. In these various domains, he has come across algorithmic biases such as survivorship bias, popularity bias, and inflation bias.

He is also the founder of Piki, a startup that gamifies music ratings. Ratings produced by users on Piki can mitigate algorithmic biases, which he discusses in a recent paper. Aimed at answering a simple but provocative question, Stoikov asks “Are the popularities of artists like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift truly justified?”

Check out his papers, Better Than Bieber? Measuring Song Quality Using Human Feedback, Evaluating Music Recommendations with Binary Feedback for Multiple Stakeholders, and Picky Eaters Make For Better Raters.

Tune in to learn about song quality algorithms and what metrics to use to optimize.

LISTEN HERE.

Shea Brown is the Founder and CEO of BABL AI. He is an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa, as well as a researcher and speaker. 

His consulting expertise focuses on AI Ethics, AI Governance, Algorithmic Auditing, and Machine Learning. He also specializes in Astrophysics, having received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in it from the University of Minnesota.

Learn more about AI Auditing through the courses offered by BABL AI and the Algorithmic Bias Lab.

Tune in to learn about algorithmic auditing and what it means.

LISTEN HERE.

Hauwa Abbas is the founder of The Halimah Project, a mentoring and tutoring program. Created for refugee youth in the Greater Lansing Area, Abbas works to help assimilate her local community. She is a graduate student at American University and a grant writer at Miftaah Institute.

Lama Aboubakr is a Mindset and Life Coach, who runs her own practice. She combines cognitive psychology-based techniques with Islamic Spirituality coaching. She additionally specializes in dating and relationships for Muslims.

Tune in to learn about Abbas’ and Aboubakr’s experiences as Muslim Americans.

LISTEN HERE.

Journalist and author, Angela Saini, joins us to discuss her latest book, released in Spring 2023. The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule tackles the history and misconceptions of patriarchy.

She teaches science writing at MIT, is a 2024 Moynihan Public Scholar, a 2022 Logan Nonfiction Program Fellow in New York, and resident scholar at the Humboldt Foundation in Berlin. Her BBC TV series on the history and science of eugenics aired in 2019. She is also the author of Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and Superior: The Return of Race Science. These were released in Summer 2017 and Summer 2019, respectively. Learn more about Saini at https://www.angelasaini.co.uk/.

Tune in to learn about the world’s different patriarchies and how they’ve evolved over time.

LISTEN HERE.

Award-winning journalist and author, Vince Beiser, highlights the importance of sand and what it means for the environment.

His first book, The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization, was released in Spring 2018. He is now working on his next book, Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape The Future, about the shift to renewable energy, and the environmental havoc, political upheaval, and murder that’s resulting from the energy battle.

He has exposed conditions in California’s harshest prisons, trained with troops bound for Iraq, ridden with the first responders to Haiti’s earthquake, and has been published in Wired, The Los Angeles Times, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Time, National Geographic, The Village Voice, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Learn more about Beiser at https://vincebeiser.com/.

Tune in to learn about the world’s third most important natural resource.

LISTEN HERE.

Freelance writer, Lindsay Lee Wallace, focuses on culture, health, and health equity. She has been featured in Time, Slate, Teen Vogue, Inverse, and Bitch Media, among others.

Check out some of the articles written by Wallace.

Tune in to learn about AI’s influence on journalism.

LISTEN HERE.

Tech Advocate, David Ryan Polgar, is the Founder and President of All Tech is Human. Polgar is an international speaker and regular commentator on increasing ethical considerations regarding emerging technology. He further discusses the importance of improving social media platforms and the need for building a tech future that is aligned with public interest. His commentary has been featured in The Guardian, TODAY show, BBC World News, MSNBC, Fast Company, Associated Press, LA Times, USA Today, among others.

Outside of All Tech Is Human, Polgar sits on TikTok’s Content Advisory Council (US). He is also a member of Teleperformance’s Trust and Safety Advisory Council. He appears in the recently-released documentary, TikTok, Boom.

Tune in to learn about responsible technology.

LISTEN HERE.

Alia Flanigan has her BA in International Relations and Affairs and a double minor in French and Women and Gender Studies. Her MA is in International Relations and Affairs, and she wrote her thesis on Women in Leadership: (In)Visible Challenges and Countermeasures.

She has experience researching gender equality, women empowerment, and international relations. She also has experience living in France, Slovenia, Hungary, Malaysia, Austria, Poland, and soon Cambodia.

Tune in to learn about the biases faced by women in the workplace.

LISTEN HERE.

Arslan Hidayet is the Program Director for Campaign for Uyghurs. Before joining Campaign for Uyghurs, Arslan taught in schools and universities in Australia, Turkey, and Bahrain.

He graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor’s degree in Music and a Master’s degree in Teaching. Hidayat runs Talk East Turkestan, the most popular Facebook page and podcast highlighting the Uyghur’s plight in the English language. He has been invited to share his expertise with news media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, Al-Jazeera, CNN, TRT WORLD, and AFP, among many others

Tune in to learn about his experience as a first-generation Australian  Uyghur.

LISTEN HERE.

Marc Getzoff is a technology and data professional with a passion for the history of the Middle East.

He holds a Masters in Economics from New York University and has extensively studied the histories of Israel, Palestine, and the surrounding region. While not a professional in history or politics, he brings a nuanced perspective based on geopolitics and how the stories of these two nations continue to develop.

Tune in to learn about the way history has been recorded in the Middle East.

LISTEN HERE.

Public Policy expert, Leah Rothstein, discusses Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law, released in 2023.

She co-authored the book with her father, Richard Rothstein, as a follow-up to his 2017 book, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.

Leah is a community organizer, with a focus on housing, education, police accountability, environmental justice, and worker health and safety issues. Her Masters in Public Policy allows her to better understand how housing and community development policy impact the way people relate to their communities and peers. She has consulted on financial and policy issues for affordable-housing developers, cities, counties, and redevelopment agencies; and has directed research on community corrections policies, practices, and populations, to promote rehabilitative approaches

Tune in to learn how American neighborhoods have been strategically and historically segregated through racist policy. More importantly, learn what we can do to remedy the issue.

LISTEN HERE.

Patrick K. Lin is an attorney and researcher focused on AI, privacy, and technology regulation. He is the author of 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘦, 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘋𝘰: How Technology Mirrors Bias in Our Criminal Justice System, a book that explores the ways public institutions use technology to surveil, police, and make decisions about the public, as well as the historical biases that impact that technology.

Lin has extensive experience in litigation and policy, having worked for the ACLU, FTC, EFF, and other organizations that advocate for digital rights and social justice. He is passionate about addressing the ethical and legal challenges posed by emerging technologies, especially in the areas of surveillance, algorithmic bias, and data privacy. He has also published multiple articles and papers on topics such as facial recognition, data protection, and copyright law.

Tune in to learn how algorithmic bias seeps into our Justice System.

LISTEN HERE.

Human Rights and Public Policy Professional, Damini Satija, is the Head of the Algorithmic Accountability Lab and Deputy Director at Amnesty Tech.

Her work focuses on data and AI, with an emphasis on government surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, welfare automation, and tech equity and justice. She has her MPA from Columbia University (specialization in tech policy), and her BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Roughly a year before being on the show, Satija brought together a multidisciplinary group of people that researches and investigates public sector automation to challenge their disproportionate impacts on marginalized people and communities.

Tune in to learn about government surveillance and algorithmic discrimination.

LISTEN HERE.